


Silence

by nishiki



Series: Happy Little Accident [5]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Parents, Baby Nathan Hargreeves, Ben is concerned (tm), Dad!Klaus Hargreeves, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Ghosts, Headaches & Migraines, Klaus struggling with his powers, alternate universe - Dad!Klaus, powers, single dad Klaus Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:07:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25705606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nishiki/pseuds/nishiki
Summary: Nathan is two years old and Klaus all alone with him in a foreign country.  As Klaus struggles with his powers, he comes to terms with the fact that he can't do it all alone.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Nathan Hargreeves (OMV)
Series: Happy Little Accident [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808335
Comments: 4
Kudos: 98





	Silence

It was loud. _Everything_ was loud. The world was screaming and Klaus was the only person capable of hearing it. His head was about to explode. His brain was suddenly too big for his own skull and his lungs too small to get enough air into his body. He felt like his ears were bleeding. 

Klaus tried his best to go through his day as per usual, resting reassured that his brother was keeping an eye on his baby boy while the babysitter was there with Nathan as Klaus was working in the sweltering heat of the Greek summer. If Ben wouldn't be there, watching over Sofia and his son, he wouldn't be able to focus on anything. Sofia was still young and not the most responsible person Klaus could have hoped for - but who was he to judge? At least she didn't waste her youth with drugs and parties and sex with strangers. At least she tried to make something of her life. 

With over 40°C it was the hottest day this summer and his headache all-consuming as he tried keeping up with his coworkers. Already they were glaring at him. Sure, most of them had a soft spot for Klaus, being a single dad and all that but … they needed to get their work done and Klaus was a liability. He couldn't work as fast because of his ‘migraine attacks’ and he sometimes missed work because he needed to take care of his baby when Sofia couldn't come in. It was only thanks to his boss Alexios that he actually still had this job and even Alexios started to lose patience with him. 

It was just a matter of time now until Alexios would actually kick him out of his company. He was sure of that and there really was nothing he could do about that. Of course, he could always try charming his peers into submission but he didn't quite have the energy for that at the moment, nor did he really think that it would work so well on a man like Alexios in his 60s with a wife and five grandchildren. Plus, he really doubted that his charm would work that well with under-eye circles for miles and hair that was slowly getting a bit too long to be fashionable messy.

He remembered meeting Alexios. Well, actually he had met his wife Penelope first. He had just come to Nafpaktos because he had fallen in love with the panorama on a postcard he had seen at the airport of Athens and had been looking for a job. It had only been him and his baby boy in a sling attached to his body. He had felt exhausted and a little like a kangaroo as he had left yet another store that couldn't give him a job when he all but bounced into Penelope. He would have fallen on his ass, of it hadn’t been for her. She had taken one look at him and had cooed _‘Oh, look at you, you poor thing’_ and taken him home for dinner. Just like that. She hadn't been afraid that he would do her harm, had taken care of Nathan while he ate, and had introduced him to Alexios who, with a laugh, had told her that she needed to stop taking strays home. That was six months ago and Alexios and Penelope were still the best people he had ever met. 

“Your head’s not in the game, Son.” Alexios reprimanded him as Klaus finally got to end his day just as the temperatures had climbed the highest and rested now snugly at 47°C. “Listen, I have sympathy for your situation and all that but the other guys are starting to question my decision of keeping you on and if you continue to work like you did those past couple of weeks, I am inclined to agree with them. It's not like I want to fire you or that the guys don't want you around, Klaus but … You are not a craftsman, you see? You made up for your lack of skill with your enthusiasm and your willingness to learn from the others but I have to be honest with you, Pal. Some of the others were less than impressed with my decision to give someone like you a chance but I didn't regret it - so don’t make me.” 

“I promise” Klaus sighed as he rubbed his temples. “I just … I don't get much sleep” He then admitted tiredly. “And I haven't had a day without a migraine in … what? four weeks now?”

“I get it,” Alexios said. “I raised seven children” Klaus wanted to interject that actually his wife had but he didn't want to risk any more than he already had. “I know it's tough. How old is your little one now?”

“He’s two” Klaus replied. “He’s also teething again”

“And his croup?” 

“Much better, thank you. That doctor you referred me to was a godsend.” 

“See? That's another thing” Alexios sighed and patted his shoulder. “I admire you for taking care of your son all alone and so far away from your family too. But you need to understand that it's okay to ask for help, yes? I already told you that my wife would be over the moon if you would let her take care of that baby while you work.”

“I have Sofia, though…”

“Yes, sure but you are still worried and always looking at your phone in case she called. That's always a bad sign with a babysitter, Klaus.” The old man winked and patted his shoulder. He was a man of experience, after all. Klaus, however, was a man terrified of letting people in too much. He hadn't had the best track record when it came to trusting other people, after all. If anything, Reginald had sometimes outright discouraged trust between him and his siblings. They had been raised as soldiers, after all, not brothers and sisters. He still had his father’s words in his ears that he had spoken at Ben’s funeral so many years ago. _‘Despite years of training and weeks of preparation, you allowed Number Six to die on this mission.’_ His words had sparked discord between them instead of unifying them. And shortly thereafter, they had all left. It had left a mark on him, whether he liked it or not.

“I’m gonna … I think about it, okay?”

“Good.” Alexios nodded and slapped a rough hand on Klaus’ back. “Now go home and take a nap.”

He felt like passing out while he was walking through the sweltering heat back home, up the hill his house was located on in the cheap part of town. By now, the headache was pounding and the ghosts like the screeching of an out of tune violin played by a complete beginner. It sounded like the one time when Vanya had allowed him to play her violin - which led to her needing to change all the strings while Klaus had been sitting beside her apologizing profusely for the mess he made. 

Vanya. If she would be here right now, she would help him. Or Allison. Allison had a new movie coming up. He missed his sisters. He wanted desperately to call them. he wanted desperately to call Diego, just to hear his gruff voice and feel like a child again, protected by his big brother who always tried to keep him safe. Hell, he would even love for Luther to show up out of the blue right now. Being in a foreign country, alone with his baby son, suffering from those ridiculous migraines and tormented by ghosts … he had never really felt this alone. 

Of course, it was by his own choice. He had come to Greece by his own choice. He had broken off contact with his family by his own choice. And yet, later, as he was sitting in his dark living room, surrounded by the furniture the previous tenant had left behind and items that Alexios and Penelope had given to him - like the old glass coffee table in front of his leather couch or the nice blue carpet underneath said coffee table -, he had the phone in his hand, listening to the dial tone before a gruff voice answered him, husky with sleep.

“Yeah?” The voice said. “Who’s there?” But Klaus couldn't get himself to answer. 

He just sat there, listening to his brother breathe into the phone, imagining how he was lounging on his bed, an irritated frown on his face from being woken up in the middle of the night like this. He wondered what Diego was up to these days. “Who’s there?” Diego asked again, irritation now lacing his voice, maybe anger too. He took a deep breath. He wanted to answer but the words wouldn't come out. “That's not fucking funny! Whoever you are, stop fucking calling me in the middle of the night or I swear I’ll find you and rip your lungs out!” And with that, Diego hung up, leaving Klaus alone once more.

Ben was sitting in a chair across the room, watching him with sad eyes as Klaus buried his face in his hands and breathed out a sob. Ben … Who was forced to follow him around all the time because Klaus had told him not to go into the light. Ben, who would now never get the chance of going to the other side because of him. One day Ben would become just one more angry spirit trailing after him. He would torment him and hate him and it would all be Klaus’ own fault. 

“Why are you not talking to Diego?” He sighed. Even for a ghost, he sounded just as exhausted as Klaus felt. “Just talk to him, tell him where you are, tell him to come and take you back home. This is getting ridiculous, Klaus. You need _help_. You need to stop running away. It's not good. Neither for you nor for Nathie. Think about Nathie.”

“That's all I ever do, Ben!” He roared as he jumped to his feet. “I do nothing but think about Nathie!” He was swaying on the spot. He could feel it even before Ben called out to him. And then, he lost his equilibrium, the world turned on its head and he went crashing into the glass coffee table. 

※※※※※※※

It was loud when he blinked awake. A wall of ghosts was surrounding him. Everything was loud. Ben was yelling, the ghosts were screaming and there was a low whine somewhere else, calling out for his attention. _Nathan_. He would be able to identify the cry of his baby boy under a thousand other voices and screams.

Still, as he was blinking sluggishly, he was still dazed and confused and couldn't make much sense of what was happening around him. So many people were leaning in on him as he laid there in a world of pain and the crying only got louder.

“Klaus!” There was another voice and Ben’s worried face looking down on him. He could see how Ben was hovering, wanting to touch him and help him but being unable to. “Klaus! Can you hear me?”

Why wouldn't he hear him? He was screaming at him, after all. Everyone was screaming. And how had he ended up on the floor?

“Klaus!”

“Mmh” He moaned and tried to get his bearings back. He found himself lying on the ground in his living room in an ocean of glass shards where his coffee table should be. Fuck. As the ghosts around him realized that he was awake and aware, their wailing and screaming only got louder and louder and Klaus pressed bloody hands to his ears in the hopes of drowning them out. It didn't work. It had never worked. They were so loud now that he could barely hear his baby anymore. His confusion and dizziness mixed with fury as he realized that his tormentors tried to drown out his baby crying for him like they drowned out every good thing in his life so far and made him stumble headfirst into drug addiction, alcoholism, and depression.

“Shut up!” He yelled out and a wave of blue light flashed through the living room. Then, suddenly, the ghosts were gone completely - except for Ben. He was even more confused at that as he slowly rolled over and pushed himself up on his hands, digging into the glass shards. Klaus barely even felt the pain from the cuts as he slowly got to his feet and stumbled into the narrow hallway of his apartment. Brushing along the walls he barely noticed that he left bloody handprints all over the walls as he rushed into Nathan’s nursery and found his baby boy standing inside his crib bawling his eyes out and making grabby motions with his tiny hands the moment he saw Klaus stumble inside the room.

“Daddy!” Nathan whined even before Klaus could pick him up and sit down heavily on the old rocking chair in the corner of the room. The moment he had Nathan in his arms, the boy stopped crying and the world was a little more silent. He felt Nathan’s tiny little hands curl into the fabric of his t-shirt, felt his head against his chest, the comforting weight of his tiny body, and his shuddering exhale and, for the first time in weeks, he was at peace. For just this moment, at least, he was at peace. No longer the ghosts were screaming into his ears, no longer was his head pounding like he was being hit repeatedly with a sledgehammer. Yeah, maybe he had a piece of glass sticking in his leg but he felt at peace as he cradled Nathan securely to his chest and let the boy fall back asleep against him.

“Okay” He whispered as Nathan had finally fallen asleep. He looked at the door where his brother was hovering and looking at him with those concerned eyes. “I think I need help, Ben.” 


End file.
